Here we have a true rarity.  This Power of the Jedi FX-7 is nineteen years old at the time of this review having been released in 2001.  I would bet that at least half of our readership did not get this figure as an adult collector, and were still in their “kid collecting” age (or shortly therefrom removed).  Despite that age, the figure really does hold up well today.  Part of that reason is that the FX-7 Medical Droid’s design is complexly simple.  Or is it simply complex.  It’s basically a cylinder with one main manipulator arm and twenty secondary arms that serve as “sophisticated medical appendages.”  Note that the figure takes a little liberty and only includes eighteen secondary arms.

Despite the fact that most collectors probably engage all eighteen of the secondary arms only once in their lifetimes, Hasbro amazingly went through the effort to make each one independently articulated.  Each arm even has an “elbow” of sorts so they can bend as they do in the movie.  So that makes two points of articulation per arm times eighteen arms.  Add in that the secondary arm array, head and the manipulator arm rotate, and you are left with a figure that has a whopping thirty nine points of articulation.  That’s a record.  I’m not even going to look it up.  I’m relying on my hazy aging memory.  This is the most articulated figure in the line’s history.  That fact might explain why this figure has never been re-released.  It has to be a costly assembly.  Update: As pointed out by Randy in the comments, FX-7 was re-released in the Target Special Action Figure 9-Pack.

The sculpting itself would probably have sharper details today.  Some of the sculpted wires and circuits around the head still show signs of POTF2 crudeness.  Since the POTJ line is the direct descendant of POTF2, that does not come as a surprise.  On the flip side, I feel like the paint applications wouldn’t be done as cleanly today.  It seems to be the only area where Hasbro might have regressed over time.  Some of the secondary arms have red painted on them, which is accurate to the on-screen prop, without any sign of overspray on my sample.  This is remarkable given how spindly these arms are. The fine white lines and boxes are carefully applied.  Of course, to be fair, we typically notice poor paint applications with faces, and I have no idea where FX-7’s face is.  It’s kind of like talking to a person with a lazy eye.  I’d have no idea where to look during a conversation.  That’s why I avoid the Medical Assistant Droid convention at all costs.  I don’t want to be accused of staring at a medical droid’s exhaust port.  I don’t need that kind of hassle.

This all amounts to an 8 out of 10 figure which is simply remarkable for a nearly two decade old sculpt.  If you are reading this at some point in the future and did the math based on the second sentence, you realize that this review is being written during the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.  Alternatively you could have just looked at the review date.  I hope you didn’t waste time with bothersome maths.  Anyway, that anniversary is the impetus for the timing of this review.  This is another older figure that would be a welcome addition to the Vintage Collection lineup.  Hasbro needs repack candidates, and this FX-7 figure would definitely be one.  The vintage Kenner FX-7 was in the first wave of Empire figures released (the 31-backs).  It was actually a bit of a challenge for me to track down as a kid.  Releasing this figure in the Vintage Collection would cross off another gap from the original “collect all 92” figures, which are constantly requested (despite some candidates having dubious retail viability).